Evidence for virus closely related to avian myeloblastosis-associated virus type 1 in a commercial stock of chickens

A two-round nested polymerase chain reaction assay detected Rous associated virus-1 (RAV-1), a prototype laboratory strain of avian leukosis virus of subgroup A (ALV-A). Surprisingly, the test failed to detect three field isolates of ALV-A but did detect virus in one commercial stock of chickens (stock F). The sequence analysis of a core of 290 nucleotides of the env gene gave evidence that the virus from stock F was closely related to avian myeloblastosis-associated virus type one (MAV-1). Other primers were used to amplify and sequence a 1491 nucleotide fragment of the env gene, and a 1245 nucleotide portion of this sequence used for a phylogenetic comparison. These analyses on 10 chickens gave evidence that six were infected with MAV-1-like virus and three with RAV-2 (subgroup B virus), and one chicken with a mixture of the two viruses. Tests with primers designed specifically for the MAV-1 sequence at a pre-determined target site and a second primer designed specifically for RAV-2 at the same site gave further evidence that the viruses isolated from stock F were closely related to one or other of these two viruses.